Innocn 27M2V Review: 4K 160Hz Mini LED HDR Gaming Monitor

Want a 27″ 4K monitor with a high refresh rate and proper HDR support? The Innocn 27M2V might be for you!

Image Quality

Based on an AHVA (IPS-type) panel by AU Optronics with a quantum dot enhanced backlight, the Innocn 27M2V monitor provides 178° wide viewing angles and a wide 99% Adobe RGB and 99% DCI-P3 color gamut, which along with excellent factory calibration makes it suitable for color-critical work.

Thanks to the wide color gamut, games and videos will look even more vibrant than the standard wide gamut displays (such as LG’s Nano IPS with 98% DCI-P3 and ~90% Adobe RGB, for instance), especially when it comes to blue, cyan and green shades.

On top of that, you get dedicated sRGB, Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 color presets.

The Innocn 27M2V also has an exceptional peak brightness of 600-nits in SDR, meaning that it can get more than bright enough even in well-lit rooms; it won’t have any issues mitigating glare.

Its static contrast ratio amounts to 1,000:1, which is standard for IPS monitors. However, there’s an 1152-zone mini LED full-array local dimming (FALD) solution that can dim parts of the screen that are supposed to be dark without greatly affecting the bright areas, thus greatly increasing the contrast ratio.

In HDR, the Innocn 27M2V can reach up to 1200-nits peak brightness, which along with the FALD system allows the monitor to simultaneously display bright punchy highlights and deep inky blacks. It has VESA’s DisplayHDR 1000 certification.

Naturally, in some demanding scenes (fireworks, stars in a night sky, etc.), the light from illuminated objects will bleed into the surrounding dimmed zones and create blooming or the ‘halo effect.’ This does take away a bit from the viewing experience, especially when watching content in a dark room, but it’s an expected drawback of this technology, so it’s tolerable given that it mainly occurs in these types of scenes.

On OLED displays, each pixel is self-emissive, so there’s no blooming of any kind, but they have other drawbacks, such as the risk of burn-in, they cannot get as bright, and they’re not available in as many form factors (including 27″ 4K high refresh rate). The high refresh rate OLED models also have uncommon subpixel layouts, resulting in minor fringing in small text and fine details.

The blooming on the Innocn 27M2V is not as noticeable as it is on the 32″ version, the Innocn 32M2V with the same 1152-zone FALD or the other similarly priced mini LED models, such as the Cooler Master Tempest GP27U with 576-zone FALD backlight.

The Samsung Neo G7 does have a bit less noticeable blooming thanks to its VA panel with a high native contrast ratio, but it’s only available as a 32″ 4K variant and many users don’t like its steep 1000R screen curvature.

Make sure you enable HDR on the Innocn 27M2V by setting HDR to ‘Standard’ in the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu. HDR also needs to be enabled in Windows (Win + Alt + B shortcut to toggle on/off).

The 4K UHD resolution results in a high pixel density of 163 PPI (pixels per inch) on the 27″ sized screen of the monitor, providing you with plenty of screen space as well as sharp details and text. You will need to apply scaling to make small text readable though, and keep in mind that 4K is very demanding on the GPU, so if you want to play at high frame rates, you’ll need a high-end graphics card.

Performance

The Innocn 27M2V has four response time overdrive modes: Off, Normal, Fast and UltraFast.

The UltraFast mode adds too much overshoot, but the default Fast mode efficiently prevents trailing behind fast-moving objects without inverse ghosting. At lower frame rates, you should dial it back to Normal in order to prevent overshoot.

Unlike the 32″ model, the Innocn 27M2V has a well-implemented overdrive with a much better performance, making it fit for competitive FPS games. Input lag is also imperceptibly low at around 4ms.

Variable refresh rate (VRR) is supported via AMD FreeSync Premium, NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible and HDMI 2.1 VRR. You will first need to enable Adaptive-Sync in the OSD menu. VRR can work at the same time as local dimming/HDR without any flickering issues, though this might vary from unit to unit.

While the monitor is not officially certified as ‘G-SYNC Compatible’ by NVIDIA, it works without issues with the supported cards. However, it seems that you can only get a 48-160Hz VRR range with AMD GPUs. NVIDIA cards are limited to 48-144Hz.

The backlight of the monitor is not completely flicker-free as it uses PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to regulate brightness, but it’s operating at a very high ~38kHz frequency that shouldn’t bother those sensitive to flicker.

Features

On the right side of the display, there’s a power button and four hotkeys for navigation through the OSD menu.

The buttons are clunky to use, so we recommend using the Win + Alt + B shortcut to toggle HDR on/off in Windows, assign shortcuts that you use to the hotkeys (sadly local dimming cannot be used as a shortcut), and download ContrlMyMonitor to make some monitor adjustments in a desktop app.

The Innocn 27M2V also has an integrated sensor that can automatically change screen brightness according to ambient lighting.

Other useful features include PiP/PbP support, Shadow Balance (improves visibility in dark scenes), crosshair overlays, a refresh rate tracker, gamma presets, aspect ratio control, sharpness and hue/saturation.

Design & Connectivity

The stand of the monitor is sturdy and offers a good range of ergonomics, including up to 120mm height adjustment, +/- 15° swivel and tilt, 90° pivot and 100x100mm VESA mount compatibility.

Connectivity options include two HDMI 2.1 ports with 48 Gbps, DisplayPort 1.4 with DSC, USB-C (DP Alt Mode and 90W Power Delivery, 65W in HDR), dual 5W integrated speakers, built-in KVM, a headphone jack and a dual-USB 3.0 hub.

The screen also has a light matte anti-glare coating that prevents reflections without making the image too grainy.

Price & Similar Monitors

The Innocn 27M2V price amounts to $600 – $800, which is the same price as the 576-zone mini LED models, such as the Cooler Master Tempest GP27U and the KTC M27P20P.

Therefore, we recommend Innocn’s model here as it has noticeably less blooming. In case it’s not available, check out the Redmagic 4K Gaming Monitor as an alternative.

The Acer XV275K P3 with 576 zones can be found on sale for $550, so it’s another good option if the Innocn 27M2V is not available or not on sale.

There’s also the LG 27GR95UM with a 1560-zone mini LED FALD backlight, but it currently has local dimming algorithm issues, so we can only recommend it once (or if) it gets a proper firmware update.

For more options and information, check out our dedicated best HDR monitors buyer’s guide.

Conclusion

All in all, if you want a 27″ 4K high refresh rate gaming monitor with a mini LED FALD backlight, the Innocn 27M2V is currently the best model available.

Specifications

Screen Size	27-inch
Resolution	3840×2160 (Ultra HD)
Panel Type	IPS
Aspect Ratio	16:9 (Widescreen)
Refresh Rate	160Hz
Response Time	1ms (GtG)
Speakers	2x2W
Adaptive-Sync	FreeSync Premium (48-160Hz) G-SYNC Compatible (48-144Hz)
Ports	DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1, USB-C (DP Alt Mode, 90W PD)
Other Ports	Headphone Jack, 2x USB 3.0
Brightness	600 cd/m²
Brightness (HDR)	1200 cd/m²
Contrast Ratio	1000:1 (static)
Colors	1.07 billion (8-bit + FRC) 99% DCI-P3, 99% Adobe RGB
HDR	VESA DisplayHDR 1000
Local Dimming	1152-zone mini LED FALD
VESA	Yes (100x100mm)